Speech delivered to the Corps of Cadets August 14, 1821, following the Corps' march from Boston to Adams' home in Quincy Massachusetts. After watching the cadets parade and perform close and extended order drill, Adams offers his congratulations...

On 12 April 1861, General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, an 1838 United States Military Academy (USMA) graduate and former Superintendent of the Academy, fired upon Major Robert Anderson, an 1825 USMA graduate and Beauregard’s former artillery...

On June 12, 1919, Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur slipped quietly into the command of the garrison in the Hudson Highlands, more commonly known as the United States Military Academy at West Point. He had chosen to forego the usual extravagant...

In 1801, Mr. George Baron, a civilian mathematics instructor, arrived at West Point by the direction of the Secretary of War. Baron’s mission was to begin classes with the junior officers on post and newly appointed cadets in an effort to start a...

On 10 September 1973 a Cadet Honor Committee representing the United States Military Academy’s Corps of Cadets laid to rest the 102 year old tradition of formally silencing cadets found in violation of the Honor Code. The Corps’ decision to...

Since the birth of the United States Military Academy in 1802, there has been a growing debate on the primary mission of the Academy. Does the Military Academy exist solely to produce officers capable of performing their war-time mission in the...

Several historical documents state that "conditions" endured during the early phases of the Seminole War caused the resignation of over 100 company-grade officers between March and December of 1836, most of whom were West Point graduates. For...

The summer of 1943 was a watershed period in the development of military instruction and training at the United States Military Academy. An American nation involved in a world at war demanded more divisions, more material, more men, and more West...

On graduation day, 27 May 1987, the Chief of Staff of the Army, General John A. Wickham, Jr., under the watchful eyes of the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, Lieutenant General LTG Dave R. Palmer, signed a new mission statement...

Previously considered the nation’s leading engineering and military school during the antebellum period, USMA provided the nation with trained graduates, critical to the expansion and security of the country. Through this mission, the Academy...

The present course in gymnasium began to take shape in 1885 with the appointment of Colonel Herman J. Koehler as Master of the Sword. In fact, Colonel Koehler did so much work in this connection that a history of his service is one of the course...

How has the mission evolved to this point, and what have been the factors behind this evolution? In over 190 years since the Academy’s establishment, its mission has changed numerous times, primarily influenced by four factors: "wars, national...

Armistice, German tanks, mechanized infantry, and dive-bombers raced across Poland to start World War II. Between November 1918 and September 1939, the German Army transformed the potential of the tank and the airplane into the realities of modern...

During the early 1850s, as the country edged toward civil war, the academic program at the United States Military Academy experienced relative success and stability. The Board of Visitors reported in 1849 that they had "rarely seen anything that...

No Honor System or Code can be "established" - in the sense that a bridge is constructed, or a building is erected. Nor can it be simply "built" and placed in position, as some automatic machine, to do some work mechanically. It must spring from...

In the mid and late 1980s some Congressional leaders expressed serious concern over the length of the Active Duty Service Obligation (ADSO) which United States service academy cadets and midshipmen incur upon graduation and commissioning. Acting on...

Although the current political and economic climate present what appear as unique challenges to the Academy, the controversy over the need for West Point began shortly after its creation. Indeed, many of the contemporary arguments against the...

However, in addition to the classroom instruction on engineering topics and disciplines that cadets received from various Academy professors, enlisted engineer soldiers and officers who were assigned to duty at West Point provided instruction and...